Buried down in today’s New York Times report on President Bush
reaffirming his unqualified support for John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador is the
reason why almost all of you are ready to vote for his confirmation.

“Republicans are hoping to shame
Democrats into a quick vote on Mr. Bolton. They argue that he needs to be in
place by June so that the United States will have the latitude it needs to
press its concerns about Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program before the
Security Council.”

Why the big rush? My reliable sources
tell me it is because there is a timetable that makes it urgent for Bolton to
be ready for action in June in order to cripple the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) as part of the plan to bomb the Iranian nuclear-power plant at
Bushehr. That’s because Bushehr, under construction with Russian
supervision, will soon be ready to receive the Russian fissionable material
enabling it to produce power. In 1981, remember Republican Senators, Israel
bombed the Osiraq nuclear power plant near Baghdad just before it was to be
fueled by its French contractors. Once fueled, bombing is out of the question
because of the radiation that would be emitted, with clouds traveling who
knows where.

Of course you must know by now that at the time the Israelis blew up Osiraq,
the situation was quite different. We were in the midst of the Cold War, the
United States was supporting Iraq in its war against Iran, and the Russians
were supporting Iran. So when the billion-dollar Osiraq plant went up in smoke
(with the help of the neo-cons who were already occupying the Pentagon in that
first year of the Reagan administration), there was no reaction from Russia
because the Israelis were essentially bombing us!! We also know by now that
Iraq did not have a nuclear weapons program at the time, but only began its
(unsuccessful) clandestine effort after Osiraq.

The same is now true of Iran. If a month or two from now you are advised by
President Bush that it is necessary to take out Bushehr to prevent Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons, you would have to wonder if the neo-cons and their
Likud allies in Tel Aviv aren’t simply threatening World War III on a faulty
premise. Wouldn’t you. The situation now is quite different, with Bushehr a
Russian project in Iran.

On a recent, quite incredible FoxNews special, Lieut. General Thomas McInerney
said we are already moving aircraft carriers into positions from which we
could strike. He was then asked: “If you had to put a percentage on it, the
chances that the US will eventually have to take military actions against
Iran, what would you put it at?” to which McInerney replied casually:
“Well, I would put one percent of using ground forces, boots on the ground
in Iran, I would put up 50 percent on a blockade and I would put up fifty to
sixty percent on precision air strikes on their nuclear development sites.”
He also observed casually that Iran wouldn’t dare take on the United States.
Perhaps the 60 million Iranians would greet our bombers with garlands and
sweets. Do you see what I mean? FoxNews, as you may know, is commonly known as
"The War Channel," for similar work it did in promoting the war
against Iraq.

Is Iran this kind of threat to anyone? As far as I can tell, ladies and
gentlemen of the GOP Senate, the answer is “absolutely not,” at least as
long as they remain members in good standing of the NPT, which means they will
permit the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect intrusively
and constantly, as they have been doing. It has been the mission of John
Bolton and his underling, Stephen Rademaker, to “reform” the United
Nations in a way that dissolves the NPT and the need for the IAEA, not only to
pave the way for the bombing of Bushehr, but also to get out from under the
NPT provisions that require all the nuclear-weapon powers to make progress
toward making the world a nuclear-free zone.

If you wish to really understand what’s going on, instead of getting briefed
by the same people who briefed you prior to the invasion of Iraq, please read
Dr. Gordon Prather’s commentaries on the crisis just around the corner.
First, on WorldNetDaily.com, he writes Strengthen the NPT -- Or Else, in which
he walks us through the misinformation that Bolton, Rademaker and the neo-cons
have been spreading on Iran’s alleged violations of its treaty obligations.
Dr. Prather, who by the way came to Washington under the patronage of Sen.
Pete Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, and is no left-wing liberal, also
penned a second column today for antiwar.com, Bush-Blairs Nutty U.N. Proposal,
which you have to read to realize how “nutty” it is.

There is also today on the antiwar.com website today an overview of this
looming crisis that I highly recommend, as it was highly recommended to me by
Dr. Prather, The Iran Crisis in Global Context. If you and your staffs do take
my suggestions seriously and go to these links, I think you may have greater
doubts about the Bolton nomination than you have now. If you have any doubts
about Dr. Prather, check with your colleague, Senator Domenici, who was
instrumental back in getting Prather an appointment as the Army’s chief
scientist during the Reagan administration.

This isn’t too much to ask, is it? For good measure, I’d hope those of you
who are reading this memo to the GOP Senators and are among their constituents
would urge them to take a second look before they send Bolton to the United
Nations. His mission is not to clean up the so-called “Oil-for-Food
Scandal” or promote UNICEF gift cards. It is to bomb the nuclear facilities
in Iran after undermining the work of IAEA and the need for the NPT.